Kentucky’s Public Safety Awareness Initiative Program

1. Kentucky’s Public Safety Awareness Initiative Program Coordination and PartnershipsAugust 23, 2005

2. Course Objectives • To educate public safety officials with coordination and partnership strategies to support public safety radio communication systems. • To identify partnerships and develop common approaches to improve radio communications interoperability among public safety agencies. • To foster relationship building and information sharing among public safety agencies.

3. Lesson Plan • Current Environment • Purpose • Strategy • Barriers • Foster Partnerships • Memorandum of Understanding • Benefits • Class Exercise

4. Coordination and Partnerships

5. Current Environment • A multitude of autonomous radio communications systems serving individual public safety agencies using different protocols and technologies without switching channels to each others systems. • “Most public safety agencies cannot directly communicate with other public safety agencies in their region, even when numerous agencies collectively respond to an emergency”* *National Task Force on Interoperability – Why Can’t We Talk

6. New Focus - Interoperability • Public Safety personnel must be able to communicate with each other to provide immediate and coordinated assistance in times of emergencies. • Otherwise, lives and properties may be lost unnecessarily.

7. Purpose • “Promote the efficient use of resources and the development of long-term interoperability solutions through improved coordination and partnerships with and among public safety agencies.”* • To identify opportunities and coordinate plan activities and support efforts to improved radio communication interoperability. *PSWN – Program and FLEWUG Status Report

8. Strategy • Cultivate political and stakeholder support at all levels of government. • Kentucky Wireless Interoperability Executive Committee (KWIEC) • Legislature • Build partnerships with stakeholders. • Perform an assessment to help identify and locate resources for collaboration opportunities. • Current radio communication capabilities • Commonalities across public safety agencies • Future needs assessment • Develop the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Public Safety Wireless Communications Plan.

9. Barriers • Organizational • Operational Approaches • Cultural • Individual Perspectives • Physical/Technical • Hardware and Software • “Turf Issues” • Management and Control • Geographic • Rivers, Mountains, Lakes, etc… • Jurisdictional • Regulatory

10. Foster Partnerships • All Levels of Government • Engender Trust • Open Communications • Information Sharing • Patience with the Process • Respect for Differences • Make Decisions through Consensus

11. Memorandum of Understanding • An agreement of cooperation between organizations defining the roles and responsibilities of each organization in relation to the other with respect to an issue over which the organizations have concurrent jurisdiction.”* *National Task Force on Interoperability – Why Can’t We Talk

12. Components of MOU • Purpose • Scope • Background • Principles of Agreement • Resources • Authority and Agreement Signatures

13. Benefits • Coordination and Partnerships are necessary: • To discuss and facilitate planning and policy development for wireless communications interoperability. • To provide immediate and coordinated wireless communications among first responders. • To developed shared systems that contribute to a lower total cost of ownership while optimizing support, maintenance, training, reusability, and economies of scale in purchasing.

14. Review Areas of Study • Lesson Plan • Current Environment • Purpose • Strategy • Barriers • Foster Partnerships • Memoranda of Understanding • Benefits

15. Class Exercise • Working Group Assignment • This lesson focuses on the importance to solve problems as a team. • The instructor will place individuals into working groups and all groups will be assigned an identical problem. • Group members are encourage to interact with other members and participate in the process to solve the problem presented to them.

16. Exercise One • Using your tiles, work with other members to construct the blue image.

17. Exercise One - Solution • How successful was your group? • How successful was your group to coordinate and partner with other groups to exchange information in order to solve the puzzle? • After the solution was known, was this information disseminated to other groups?

18. Exercise Two • Using your tiles, work with other members to construct the blue image.

19. Exercise Two - Solution • How successful was your group? • How successful was your group to establish a Memorandum of Understanding to exchange tiles to solve the puzzle? • After the solution was known, was this information disseminated to other groups?

20. Action Plan / Wrap Up • Coordination and Partnership are necessary for the efficient use of resources and the development of long-term wireless communication interoperability solutions. • Public safety agencies need to overcome barriers and foster partnerships. • Memorandum of Understanding needs to be established.

21. Recommended Readings • Coordination and Partnerships Guide • Statewide Communications Interoperability Planning Methodology (SCIP) • Statewide Strategy Best Practices Report • Post Symposium Report – Kentucky • Role of the Local Public Safety Community in Wireless Interoperability • Role of the State Public Safety Community in Wireless Interoperability

22. Additional Resources • Internet Links • www.dhs.gov • www.fema.gov • www.publicsafetywins.gov • www.agileprogram.org • Kentucky Office of Homeland Security • www.homelandsecurity.gov • Commonwealth Office of Technology • www.cot.ky.gov • Kentucky Wireless Interoperability Executive Committee (KWIEC)

23. Kentucky’s Public Safety Awareness Initiative Program Discussions? Coordination and PartnershipsAugust 23, 2005